`TEMPORARY REDUCTION'
Pfizer supply cut back for month
Ottawa's medical officer of health is expecting 5,800 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to arrive on Tuesday with another 5,800 doses to arrive on Jan. 26.
These doses will be earmarked as second vaccinations for people who have already received their first dose, said Dr. Vera Etches, Ottawa's chief medical officer of health. Ottawa Public Health's goal is to use each shipment by the end of the week.
“Every week the vaccine is delivered on Tuesday. We use it by the next Tuesday.”
Etches' comments came late Friday afternoon, only a few hours after news that vaccine shipments from Pfizer-BioNTech would be cut in half over the next four weeks as the drug giant works to upgrade its production facility in Belgium.
Procurement Minister Anita Anand called it a temporary reduction, not a stoppage. “We will make up those doses. Pfizer has told us those doses will continue to arrive in February and March.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the delay would not affect plans to have enough vaccines available for every Canadian who wanted to be vaccinated by fall.
Meanwhile, all residents in Ottawa's long-term care homes have had the opportunity to be vaccinated, and that is cause for celebration, Etches said.
According to data from 24 of Ottawa's 28 LTC homes, about 96 per cent of LTC residents have received their first dose of COVID -19 vaccine, with data from the other four homes expected to follow.
“We are so pleased to have reached this milestone,” Etches said. “We still need the protection of staying two metres apart. That is what this lockdown is all about.”
Next on the priority list are residents of retirement homes and other older adults in congregate settings, older adults in Indigenous communities and people with chronic conditions receiving home care.
Etches says Ottawa is ready to get vaccines to people as soon as the doses are available. Retirement homes have already been preparing for the arrival of the vaccine by ensuring that consent forms have been signed, she said.
So far, only the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been available in Ottawa.
Etches said she has not received word on if or when the Moderna vaccine would be available in Ottawa. Moderna's rollout has so far been prioritized for northern communities that do not have access to the specialized freezers needed to keep the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at -70 C. The Moderna vaccine is shipped at -20 C.
Earlier this week, Ontario said it planned to administer the first dose of vaccine to residents, workers and essential caregivers in all nursing homes and high-risk retirement homes by Feb. 15.
In a statement Friday afternoon, Premier Doug Ford said the provincial government was evaluating the impact of the delay in Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine shipments.
“We will adjust as necessary, recognizing the fact that Ontario will soon have a baseline capacity to vaccinate nearly 40,000 people a day,” Ford said.
“I know the federal government is working to secure more supply, and when they are able to deliver more vaccines Ontario will be ready to administer them.”